Ten percent of the brain myth

The 10 percent of the brain myth is a widely perpetuated urban legend that most or all humans only use 10 percent (or some other small percentage) of their brains. It has been misattributed to many people, including Albert Einstein.[1] By extrapolation, it is suggested that a person may harness this unused potential and increase intelligence.

Changes in grey and white matter following new experiences and learning have been shown, but it has not yet been proven what the changes are,[2] the popular notion that large parts of the brain remain unused, and could subsequently be "activated", rests in popular folklore and not science. Though mysteries regarding brain function remain—e.g. memory, consciousness—the physiology of brain mapping suggests that all areas of the brain have a function.[3][4]

Contents

One possible origin is the reserve energy theories by Harvard psychologists William James and Boris Sidis in the 1890s who tested the theory in the accelerated raising of child prodigy William Sidis; thereafter, James told audiences that people only meet a fraction of their full mental potential, which is a plausible claim.[5] In 1936, American writer Lowell Thomas summarized this idea (in a foreword to Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People) by adding a falsely precise percentage: "Professor William James of Harvard used to say that the average man develops only ten percent of his latent mental ability".[6] This book was not the first to use the 10 percent figure, which was already circulating within the self-help movement before then; for example, the book Mind Myths: Exploring Popular Assumptions About the Mind and Brain includes a chapter on the ten percent myth that shows a self-help advertisement from the 1929 World Almanac with the line "There is NO LIMIT to what the human brain can accomplish. Scientists and psychologists tell us we use only about TEN PERCENT of our brain power."[7]

According to a related origin story, the ten percent myth most likely arose from a misunderstanding (or misrepresentation) of neurological research in the late 19th century or early 20th century, for example, the functions of many brain regions (especially in the cerebral cortex) are complex enough that the effects of damage are subtle, leading early neurologists to wonder what these regions did.[11] The brain was also discovered to consist mostly of glial cells, which seemed to have very minor functions. James W. Kalat, author of the textbook Biological Psychology, points out that neuroscientists in the 1930s knew about the large number of "local" neurons in the brain, the misunderstanding of the function of local neurons may have led to the ten percent myth.[12] The myth might have been propagated simply by a truncation of the idea that some use a small percentage of their brains at any given time;[1] in the same article in Scientific American, John Henley, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota states: "Evidence would show over a day you use 100 percent of the brain".[1]

Although parts of the brain have broadly understood functions, many mysteries remain about how brain cells (i.e., neurons and glia) work together to produce complex behaviors and disorders. Perhaps the broadest, most mysterious question is how diverse regions of the brain collaborate to form conscious experiences. So far, there is no evidence that there is one site for consciousness, which leads experts to believe that it is truly a collective neural effort. Therefore, as with James's idea that humans have untapped cognitive potential, it may be that a large number of questions about the brain have not been fully answered.[1]

Neurologist Barry Gordon describes the myth as false, adding, "we use virtually every part of the brain, and that (most of) the brain is active almost all the time."[1] Neuroscientist Barry Beyerstein sets out seven kinds of evidence refuting the ten percent myth:[13]

Studies of brain damage: If 10 percent of the brain is normally used, then damage to other areas should not impair performance. Instead, there is almost no area of the brain that can be damaged without loss of abilities. Even slight damage to small areas of the brain can have profound effects.

Brain scans have shown that no matter what one is doing, all brain areas are always active. Some areas are more active at any one time than others, but barring brain damage, there is no part of the brain that is absolutely not functioning. Technologies such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allow the activity of the living brain to be monitored. They reveal that even during sleep, all parts of the brain show some level of activity. Only in the case of serious damage does a brain have "silent" areas.

The brain is enormously costly to the rest of the body, in terms of oxygen and nutrient consumption. It can require up to 20 percent of the body's energy—more than any other organ—despite making up only 2 percent of the human body by weight.[14][15] If 90 percent of it were unnecessary, there would be a large survival advantage to humans with smaller, more efficient brains. If this were true, the process of natural selection would have eliminated the inefficient brains, it is also highly unlikely that a brain with so much redundant matter would have evolved in the first place; given the historical risk of death in childbirth associated with the large brain size (and therefore skull size) of humans,[16] there would be a strong selection pressure against such a large brain size if only 10 percent was actually in use.

Microstructural analysis: In the single-unit recording technique, researchers insert a tiny electrode into the brain to monitor the activity of a single cell. If 90 percent of cells were unused, then this technique would have revealed that.

Synaptic pruning: Brain cells that are not used have a tendency to degenerate. Hence if 90 percent of the brain were inactive, autopsy of normal adult brains would reveal large-scale degeneration.

In debunking the ten percent myth, Knowing Neurons editor Gabrielle-Ann Torre writes that using one hundred percent of one's brain would not be desirable either, such unfettered activity would almost certainly trigger an epileptic seizure.[17] Torre writes that, even at rest, a person likely uses as much of his or her brain as reasonably possible through the default mode network, a widespread brain network that is active and synchronized even in the absence of any cognitive task. Thus, "large portions of the brain are never truly dormant, as the 10% myth might otherwise suggest."

Several books, films, and short stories have been written closely related to this myth, they include the movie Flight of the Navigator, the novel The Dark Fields, its film adaptation, the 9th book (White Night) of Jim Butcher's book series The Dresden Files, the Limitless film (claiming 20 percent rather than the typical 10 percent), the shōnenmangaPsyren, and the 2014 film Lucy, all of which operate under the notion that the rest of the brain could be accessed through use of a drug.[18]Lucy, in particular, depicts a character who gains increasingly godlike abilities once she surpasses 10 percent, though the film suggests that 10 percent represents brain capacity at a particular time rather than permanent usage.

The 10 percent brain myth occurs frequently in advertisements,[20] and in entertainment media it is often cited as if it were fact.[21]

Some New Age proponents propagate the "ten percent of the brain" belief by asserting that the "unused" ninety percent of the human brain is capable of exhibiting psychic powers and can be trained to perform psychokinesis and extra-sensory perception.[3][13] There is no scientifically verified body of evidence supporting the existence of such powers.[13]

In 1980, Roger Lewin published an article in Science, "Is Your Brain Really Necessary?",[22] about studies by John Lorber on cerebral cortex losses. He reports the case of a Sheffield University student who had a measured IQ of 126 and passed a Mathematics Degree but who had hardly any discernible brain matter at all since his cortex was extremely reduced by hydrocephalus, the article led to the broadcast of a Yorkshire Television documentary of the same title, though it was about a different patient who had normal brain mass distributed in an unusual way in a very large skull.[23]

^University of Oxford (16 October 2009). "Juggling Enhances Connections In The Brain". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 30 May 2012. We've shown that it is possible for the brain to condition its own wiring system to operate more efficiently.

^Beyerstein, Barry L. (1999), "Whence Cometh the Myth that We Only Use 10% of our Brains?", in Della Salla, Sergio, Mind Myths: Exploring Popular Assumptions About the Mind and Brain, Wiley, p. 11, ISBN978-0471983033

^Larsen-Freeman, Diane (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Teaching Techniques in English as a Second Language (2nd ed.). Oxford. Oxford University Press. p. 73. ISBN978-0-19-435574-2.

^The skull had been enlarged by pressure from the hydrocephalus fluid. Her brain was thinly spread, but occupied her entire braincase, and its thickness was such that she had a brain volume of approximately 200 cm3, the woman had been told all her life that she had only 15% of normal brain mass, but those who told her this had not taken the form of her cranium into account. http://www.metafilter.com/26688/Well-what-about-pain

1.
Urban legend
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These legends can be used for entertainment purposes, as well as for semi-serious explanations for random events such as disappearances and strange objects. Despite its name, an urban legend does not necessarily originate in an urban area, rather, the term is used to differentiate modern legend from traditional folklore of pre-industrial times. For this reason, sociologists and folklorists prefer the contemporary legend. Because people frequently allege that such tales happened to a friend of a friend, Urban legends are spread by any media, including newspapers, e-mail and social media. In America in 1938 a radio dramatization of The War of the Worlds supposedly caused mass panic, in 2005, a widespread legend claimed that a large percentage of people have a biological father who is not their assumed father. Some urban legends have passed through the years only minor changes to suit regional variations. More recent legends tend to reflect modern circumstances, like the story of people ambushed and anesthetized, who awaken minus one kidney, the term urban legend, as used by folklorists, has appeared in print since at least 1968. Jan Harold Brunvand, professor of English at the University of Utah, many urban legends are framed as complete stories with plot and characters. The compelling appeal of an urban legend is its elements of mystery, horror. Often they serve as cautionary tales, some urban legends are morality tales that depict someone, usually a child, acting in a disagreeable manner, only to wind up in trouble, hurt, or dead. As Jan Brunvand points out antecedent legends including some of the motifs, themes, the teller of an urban legend may claim it happened to a friend, which serves to personalize, authenticate and enhance the power of the narrative while distancing the teller. Many urban legends depict horrific crimes, contaminated foods, or other situations which would affect many people. Anyone believing such stories might feel compelled to warn loved ones, not seldom, news organizations, school officials and even police departments have issued warnings concerning the latest threat. A fax received at the Nassau County, Florida fire department was forwarded to police, even the Minister of Defence for Canada was taken in by the same legend, he forwarded an urgent security warning to all Ontario Members of Parliament. Many urban legends are essentially extended jokes, told as if they were true events, persistent urban legends often maintain a degree of plausibility, for instance a serial killer deliberately hiding in the back seat of a car. One such example since the 1970s has been the rumor that the Procter & Gamble Company was associated with Satan-worshippers because of details within its nineteenth-century trademark. The legend interrupted the companys business to the point that it stopped using the trademark, the coinage leads in turn to the terms FOAFlore and FOAFtale. Here the authors make a connection between urban legends and popular folklore, such as Grimms Fairy Tales where similar themes and motifs arise

2.
Percentage
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In mathematics, a percentage is a number or ratio expressed as a fraction of 100. It is often denoted using the percent sign, %, or the abbreviations pct. pct, a percentage is a dimensionless number. For example, 45% is equal to 45⁄100,45,100, percentages are often used to express a proportionate part of a total. If 50% of the number of students in the class are male. If there are 1000 students, then 500 of them are male, an increase of $0.15 on a price of $2.50 is an increase by a fraction of 0. 15/2.50 =0.06. Expressed as a percentage, this is a 6% increase, while many percentage values are between 0 and 100, there is no mathematical restriction and percentages may take on other values. For example, it is common to refer to 111% or −35%, especially for percent changes, in Ancient Rome, long before the existence of the decimal system, computations were often made in fractions which were multiples of 1⁄100. For example, Augustus levied a tax of 1⁄100 on goods sold at auction known as centesima rerum venalium, computation with these fractions was equivalent to computing percentages. Many of these texts applied these methods to profit and loss, interest rates, by the 17th century it was standard to quote interest rates in hundredths. The term per cent is derived from the Latin per centum, the sign for per cent evolved by gradual contraction of the Italian term per cento, meaning for a hundred. The per was often abbreviated as p. and eventually disappeared entirely, the cento was contracted to two circles separated by a horizontal line, from which the modern % symbol is derived. The percent value is computed by multiplying the value of the ratio by 100. For example, to find 50 apples as a percentage of 1250 apples, first compute the ratio 50⁄1250 =0.04, and then multiply by 100 to obtain 4%. The percent value can also be found by multiplying first, so in this example the 50 would be multiplied by 100 to give 5,000, and this result would be divided by 1250 to give 4%. To calculate a percentage of a percentage, convert both percentages to fractions of 100, or to decimals, and multiply them, for example, 50% of 40% is, 50⁄100 × 40⁄100 =0.50 ×0.40 =0.20 = 20⁄100 = 20%. It is not correct to divide by 100 and use the percent sign at the same time, whenever we talk about a percentage, it is important to specify what it is relative to, i. e. what is the total that corresponds to 100%. The following problem illustrates this point, in a certain college 60% of all students are female, and 10% of all students are computer science majors. If 5% of female students are computer science majors, what percentage of computer science majors are female and we are asked to compute the ratio of female computer science majors to all computer science majors

3.
Albert Einstein
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Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist. He developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics, Einsteins work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. Einstein is best known in popular culture for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian mechanics was no longer enough to reconcile the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. This led him to develop his theory of relativity during his time at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. Briefly before, he aquired the Swiss citizenship in 1901, which he kept for his whole life and he continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum theory, which led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of molecules. He also investigated the properties of light which laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, Einstein applied the theory of relativity to model the large-scale structure of the universe. He was visiting the United States when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 and, being Jewish, did not go back to Germany and he settled in the United States, becoming an American citizen in 1940. This eventually led to what would become the Manhattan Project, Einstein supported defending the Allied forces, but generally denounced the idea of using the newly discovered nuclear fission as a weapon. Later, with the British philosopher Bertrand Russell, Einstein signed the Russell–Einstein Manifesto, Einstein was affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, until his death in 1955. Einstein published more than 300 scientific papers along with over 150 non-scientific works, on 5 December 2014, universities and archives announced the release of Einsteins papers, comprising more than 30,000 unique documents. Einsteins intellectual achievements and originality have made the word Einstein synonymous with genius, Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg in the German Empire, on 14 March 1879. His parents were Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer, the Einsteins were non-observant Ashkenazi Jews, and Albert attended a Catholic elementary school in Munich from the age of 5 for three years. At the age of 8, he was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium, the loss forced the sale of the Munich factory. In search of business, the Einstein family moved to Italy, first to Milan, when the family moved to Pavia, Einstein stayed in Munich to finish his studies at the Luitpold Gymnasium. His father intended for him to electrical engineering, but Einstein clashed with authorities and resented the schools regimen. He later wrote that the spirit of learning and creative thought was lost in strict rote learning, at the end of December 1894, he travelled to Italy to join his family in Pavia, convincing the school to let him go by using a doctors note. During his time in Italy he wrote an essay with the title On the Investigation of the State of the Ether in a Magnetic Field

4.
Intelligence
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Intelligence has been defined in many different ways including as ones capacity for logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, planning, creativity and problem solving. It can be generally described as the ability to perceive information. Intelligence is most widely studied in humans, but has also observed in non-human animals. Artificial intelligence is intelligence in machines and it is commonly implemented in computer systems using program software. Within the discipline of psychology, various approaches to intelligence have been adopted. The psychometric approach is especially familiar to the public, as well as being the most researched. Intelligence derives from the Latin verb ability to think intelligere, to comprehend or perceive, a form of this verb, intellectus, became the medieval technical term for understanding, and a translation for the Greek philosophical term nous. Hobbes for example, in his Latin De Corpore, used intellectus intelligit as a example of a logical absurdity. The term intelligence has become less common in English language philosophy. The definition of intelligence is controversial, some groups of psychologists have suggested the following definitions, From Mainstream Science on Intelligence, an op-ed statement in the Wall Street Journal signed by fifty-two researchers. A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and it is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—catching on, making sense of things, Concepts of intelligence are attempts to clarify and organize this complex set of phenomena. Although considerable clarity has been achieved in areas, no such conceptualization has yet answered all the important questions. Indeed, when two dozen prominent theorists were recently asked to define intelligence, they gave two dozen, somewhat different, definitions, Intelligence enables humans to remember descriptions of things and use those descriptions in future behaviors. Intelligence enables humans to experience and think, note that much of the above definition applies also to the intelligence of non-human animals. Although humans have been the focus of intelligence researchers, scientists have also attempted to investigate animal intelligence, or more broadly. These researchers are interested in studying both mental ability in a species, and comparing abilities between species. They study various measures of problem solving, as well as numerical and verbal reasoning abilities, wolfgang Köhlers research on the intelligence of apes is an example of research in this area

5.
William James
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William James was an American philosopher and psychologist who was also trained as a physician. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked James as the 14th most cited psychologist of the 20th century and he also developed the philosophical perspective known as radical empiricism. James work has influenced intellectuals such as Émile Durkheim, W. E. B, du Bois, Edmund Husserl, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Hilary Putnam, and Richard Rorty, and has even influenced Presidents, such as Jimmy Carter. Born into a family, James was the son of the Swedenborgian theologian Henry James Sr. James wrote widely on topics, including epistemology, education, metaphysics, psychology, religion. William James was born at the Astor House in New York City and he was the son of Henry James Sr. a noted and independently wealthy Swedenborgian theologian well acquainted with the literary and intellectual elites of his day. William James received an eclectic trans-Atlantic education, developing fluency in both German and French, education in the James household encouraged cosmopolitanism. The family made two trips to Europe while William James was still a child, setting a pattern that resulted in thirteen more European journeys during his life. In his early adulthood, James suffered from a variety of ailments, including those of the eyes, back, stomach. Two younger brothers, Garth Wilkinson and Robertson, fought in the Civil War, the other three siblings all suffered from periods of invalidism. He took up studies at Harvard Medical School in 1864. His studies were interrupted once again due to illness in April 1867 and he traveled to Germany in search of a cure and remained there until November 1868, at that time he was 26 years old. During this period, he began to publish, reviews of his works appeared in periodicals such as the North American Review. James finally earned his M. D. degree in June 1869, what he called his soul-sickness would only be resolved in 1872, after an extended period of philosophical searching. He married Alice Gibbens in 1878, in 1882 he joined the Theosophical Society. Jamess time in Germany proved intellectually fertile, helping him find that his interests lay not in medicine but in philosophy. Later, in 1902 he would write, I originally studied medicine in order to be a physiologist, I never had any philosophic instruction, the first lecture on psychology I ever heard being the first I ever gave. In 1875–1876, James, Henry Pickering Bowditch, Charles Pickering Putnam, G. Stanley Hall, Henri Bergson and Sigmund Freud

6.
Boris Sidis
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Boris Sidis was a Ukrainian-American psychologist, physician, psychiatrist, and philosopher of education. Sidis founded the New York State Psychopathic Institute and the Journal of Abnormal Psychology and he was the father of child prodigy William James Sidis. Boris Sidis eventually opposed mainstream psychology and Sigmund Freud, and thereby died ostracized and he was married to a maternal aunt of Clifton Fadiman, the noted American intellectual. Born in Russian Empire to Jewish parents, he emigrated to the U. S. in 1887 to escape political persecution, due to the May Laws, he was imprisoned for at least two years, according to William James Sidis biographer, Amy Wallace. He later credited his ability to think to this long solitary confinement and his wife, Sarah Mandelbaum Sidis, M. D. and her family fled the pogroms about 1889. Boris completed four degrees at Harvard and studied under William James and he was influential in the early 20th century, known for pioneering work in psychopathology, hypnoid/hypnotic states, and group psychology. He is also noted for applying the Theory of Evolution to the study of psychology. He vehemently opposed World War I, viewing war as a social disease and he sought to provide insight into why people behave as they do, particularly in cases of a mob frenzy or religious mania. With the publication of his book Nervous Ills, Their Cause and Cure in 1922 and he saw fear as an underlying cause of much human mental suffering and problematic behavior. Sidis applied his own psychological approaches to raising his son, William James Sidis and his son has been considered among the most intelligent people ever, though research has shown that this claim was wildly exaggerated. After receiving much publicity for his feats, he came to live an eccentric life. Boris Sidis himself derided intelligence testing as silly, pedantic, absurd, with Boris fulminations against mainstream psychology and Sigmund Freud, he died ostracized by the community he had helped create. However, a note from his daughter sidis. net says he was born in Berditchev. ^ His writings are available at sidis. net Boris Sidis Archives Nervous Ills Their Cause and Cure – full text The works of Boris Sidis – full online texts

7.
William James Sidis
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William James Sidis was an American child prodigy with exceptional mathematical abilities and a claimed mastery of many languages. He entered Harvard at age 11 and, as an adult, was claimed to be conversant in over 40 languages, Sidis became famous first for his precocity and later for his eccentricity and withdrawal from public life. Eventually, he avoided mathematics altogether, writing on subjects under a number of pseudonyms. William James Sidis was born to Jewish immigrants from Ukraine on April 1,1898, M. D. had emigrated in 1887 to escape political persecution. His mother, Sarah Sidis, M. D. and her family had fled the pogroms in 1889, Sarah attended Boston University and graduated from its School of Medicine in 1897. William was named after his godfather, Boris friend and colleague, Boris was a psychiatrist and published numerous books and articles, performing pioneering work in abnormal psychology. Boris was a polyglot, and his son William would become one at a young age, Sidiss parents believed in nurturing a precocious and fearless love of knowledge, for which they were criticized. Sidis could read The New York Times at 18 months, by age 8, he had reportedly taught himself 8 languages and invented another, which he called Vendergood. In early 1910, Sidis mastery of mathematics was such that he lectured the Harvard Mathematical Club on four-dimensional bodies. MIT professor Daniel F. Comstock predicted that Sidis would become a great mathematician, Sidis began taking a full-time course load in 1910 and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, on June 18,1914, at age 16. Another child prodigy, cybernetics pioneer Norbert Wiener, also attended Harvard at the time, shortly after graduation, he told reporters that he wanted to live the perfect life, which to him meant living in seclusion. He granted an interview to a reporter from the Boston Herald, the paper reported Sidiss vows to remain celibate and never to marry, as he said women did not appeal to him. Later he developed an affection for a young woman named Martha Foley. He later enrolled at Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and he was outspoken about his pacifism. He arrived at Rice in December 1915 at the age of 17 and he was a graduate fellow working toward his doctorate. Sidis taught three classes, Euclidean geometry, non-Euclidean geometry, and trigonometry, after less than a year, frustrated with the department, his teaching requirements, and his treatment by students older than he was, Sidis left his post and returned to New England. When a friend asked him why he had left, he replied. I didnt leave—I was asked to go, Sidis abandoned his pursuit of a graduate degree in mathematics and enrolled at the Harvard Law School in September 1916, but withdrew in good standing in his final year in March 1919

8.
Lowell Thomas
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Lowell Jackson Thomas was an American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous. Thomas was born in Woodington, Darke County, Ohio, to Harry and his father was a doctor, his mother a teacher. In 1900, the moved to the mining town of Victor. Thomas worked there as a miner, a cook. In 1911, Thomas graduated from Victor High School where one of his teachers was Mabel Barbee Lee, the following year, he graduated from Valparaiso University with bachelors degrees in education and science. The next year, he received both a B. A. and an M. A. from the University of Denver and began work for the Chicago Journal, Thomas also was on the faculty of Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he taught oratory from 1912 to 1914. He then went to New Jersey where he studied for a masters at Princeton University, Thomas was a relentless self-promoter, and he persuaded railroads to give him free passage in exchange for articles extolling rail travel. When he visited Alaska, he hit upon the idea of the travelogue. When the United States entered World War I, he was part of a party sent by President Wilson, former president of Princeton. In reality, the mission was not academic, the war was not popular in the United States, and Thomas was sent to find material that would encourage the American people to support it. Thomas did not want to write about the war, he wanted to film it. He estimated that $75,000 would be needed for filming, which the U. S. government thought too expensive, Thomas and cameraman Harry Chase first went to the Western Front, but the trenches had little to inspire the American public. They then went to Italy, where he heard of General Allenbys campaign against the Ottoman Empire in Palestine. Thomas traveled to Palestine as a war correspondent with the permission of the British Foreign Office, where he met T. E. Lawrence. Lawrence was spending £200,000 a month encouraging the inhabitants of Palestine to rebel against the Turks, Thomas and Chase spent several weeks with Lawrence in the desert, though Lawrence said several days. With Allenbys permission he linked up with Lawrence for a couple of weeks. On being asked to come to England, he made the condition he would do so if asked by the King and he opened at Covent Garden on 14 August 1919. And so followed a series of hundreds of lecture–film shows

9.
Dale Carnegie
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Dale Harbison Carnegie was an American writer and lecturer and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. Born into poverty on a farm in Missouri, he was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People and he also wrote How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Lincoln the Unknown, and several other books. One of the ideas in his books is that it is possible to change other peoples behavior by changing ones behavior toward them. Born in 1888 in Maryville, Missouri, Carnegie was a farmers boy. His family moved to Belton, Missouri, when he was a small child, in his teens though still having to get up at 4 a. m. every day to milk his parents cows, he managed to obtain an education at the State Teachers College in Warrensburg. His first job after college was selling correspondence courses to ranchers and he moved on to selling bacon, soap, and lard for Armour & Company. He was successful to the point of making his sales territory of South Omaha, Nebraska, after saving $500, Dale Carnegie quit sales in 1911 in order to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a Chautauqua lecturer. When the production ended, he returned to New York, unemployed, nearly broke, there he got the idea to teach public speaking, and he persuaded the YMCA manager to allow him to instruct a class in return for 80% of the net proceeds. In his first session, he had run out of material, improvising, he suggested that students speak about something that made them angry, and discovered that the technique made speakers unafraid to address a public audience. From this 1912 début, the Dale Carnegie Course evolved, Carnegie had tapped into the average Americans desire to have more self-confidence, and by 1914, he was earning $500 every week. Carnegie changed the spelling of his last name from Carnagey to Carnegie, as Dale Carnagey he worked as assistant to Lowell Thomas in his famous travelogue With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia. He managed and delivered the travelogue in Canada, by 1916 Dale was able to rent Carnegie Hall itself for a lecture to a packed house. Carnegies first collection of his writings was Public Speaking, a Practical Course for Business Men and his crowning achievement, however, was when Simon & Schuster published How to Win Friends and Influence People. The book was a bestseller from its debut in 1936, in its 17th printing within a few months, by the time of Carnegies death, the book had sold five million copies in 31 languages, and there had been 450,000 graduates of his Dale Carnegie Institute. It has been stated in the book that he had critiqued over 150,000 speeches in his participation in the education movement of the time. During World War I he served in the U. S. Army and his first marriage ended in divorce in 1931. On November 5,1944, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he married Dorothy Price Vanderpool, Vanderpool had two daughters, Rosemary, from her first marriage, and Donna Dale from their marriage together. Carnegie died at his home in Forest Hills, New York and he was buried in the Belton, Cass County, Missouri, cemetery

10.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
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How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the first best-selling self-help books ever published. Written by Dale Carnegie and first published in 1936, it has sold over 30 million copies world-wide, Leon Shimkin of the publishing firm Simon & Schuster took one of the 14-week courses given by Carnegie in 1934. Shimkin persuaded Carnegie to let a stenographer take notes from the course to be revised for publication, the original book contained sections providing colorful anecdotes and insightful wisdom. It gave instruction in handling people, winning friends, bringing people to your way of thinking, being a great leader, Carnegie combined age-old truisms with the emerging field of psychology to present a handbook in human relations which was interesting and accessible. Emphasizing the use of others egotistical tendencies to ones advantage, Carnegie maintained that success could be found by charm, appreciation, the book sold exceptionally well from the start, going through 17 editions in its first year. In 1981, a new revised edition containing updated language and anecdotes was released, the revised edition reduced the number of sections from 6 to 4, eliminating sections on effective business letters and improving marital satisfaction. In 2011, a 3rd edition was released, titled How to Win Friends and this edition was written by Dale Carnegie & Associates. It applies Carnegies prescription for relationship and business success to the digital age, get you out of a mental rut, give you new thoughts, new visions, new ambitions. Enable you to make friends quickly and easily, help you to win people to your way of thinking. Increase your influence, your prestige, your ability to get things done, enable you to win new clients, new customers. Make you a better salesman, a better executive, help you to handle complaints, avoid arguments, keep your human contacts smooth and pleasant. Make you a better speaker, a more entertaining conversationalist, Make the principles of psychology easy for you to apply in your daily contacts. Help you to arouse enthusiasm among your associates, the book has six major sections. The core principles of each section are explained and quoted below, human nature does not like to admit fault. When people are criticized or humiliated, they respond well and will often become defensive. To handle people well, we must never criticize, condemn or complain because it will never result in the behavior we desire, appreciation is one of the most powerful tools in the world. People will rarely work at their maximum potential under criticism, appreciation, though, is not simple flattery, it must be sincere, meaningful and with love. Arouse in the person a eager want

11.
World Almanac
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The World Almanac and Book of Facts is a US-published reference work and is a bestselling almanac conveying information about such subjects as world changes, tragedies, sports feats, etc. It has been published yearly from 1868 to 1875, and again every year since 1886 and it was number 1 on the Washington Post bestseller list on November 27,2011. The 2017 edition has 1,008 pages, the first edition of The World Almanac was published by The New York World newspaper in 1868. The World Almanac has been published annually since, in 1894, when it claimed more than a half-million habitual users, The World Almanac changed its name to The World Almanac and Encyclopedia. This was the title it kept until 1923, when it became The World Almanac and Book of Facts, from 1890 to 1934, the New York World Building was prominently featured on the cover of the almanac. In 1923, the changed to its current name, The World Almanac. Calvin Coolidges father read from The World Almanac when he swore his son into office, since then, photos have shown that Presidents John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton have also used The World Almanac as a resource. The New York World merged with the Scripps-owned Telegram to form the New York World-Telegram in 1931, the Almanac survived the closure of the World-Telegram in 1966. The first version of the video game Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, published in 1985, included The World Almanac in the purchase. Over the years The World Almanac has been featured in a number of Hollywood films, for example, Fred MacMurray talks about it with Edward G. The World Almanac For Kids has been published annually since 1995, in 1993 Scripps sold the Almanac to K-III. The World Almanac was sold to Ripplewood Holdings WRC Media in 1999. Ripplewood bought Readers Digest and the book was produced by the World Almanac Education Group. The World Almanac was sold to Infobase Publishing in 2009, at that time,20 percent of the book was rarely updated,50 percent was updated at least briefly each year, and 30 percent of the content was completely new each year. As a publication of Newspaper Enterprise Association the World Almanac would publish the NEA NFL All-Pro teams, the NEA All-Pro teams were considered the players All-Pro team since creator Murray Olderman, a NEA sports editor, would poll NFL players for the All-Pro team. The NEA All-Pro team ran from 1955 through 1992, the World Almanac & Book of Facts

12.
Georgi Lozanov
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He developed suggestopedia/suggestopaedia, a learning/teaching theory based on his early-1960s study of suggestion which is known as suggestology. Lozanovs theory and practice triggered an accelerated learning movement in the West, such techniques included elements such as breathing, visualization and biofeedback. There is a school in Sliven dedicated to preparing teachers for using suggestopaedia during lessons in order to improve the speed of pupils. Lozanov had earlier also conducted advanced long-term research in the field of parapsychology, especially on clairvoyance

13.
Wilder Penfield
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Wilder Graves Penfield OM CC CMG FRS was an American-Canadian pioneering neurosurgeon once dubbed the greatest living Canadian. He expanded brain surgerys methods and techniques, including mapping the functions of various regions of the such as the cortical homunculus. His scientific contributions on neural stimulation expand across a variety of topics including hallucinations, illusions, Penfield devoted a lot of his thinking to mental processes, including contemplation of whether there was any scientific basis for the existence of the human soul. Penfield was born in Spokane, Washington on January 26,1891 and he studied at Princeton University, where he was a member of Cap and Gown Club and played on the football team. After graduation in 1913, he was hired briefly as the team coach, in 1915 he obtained a Rhodes Scholarship to Merton College, Oxford, where he studied neuropathology under Sir Charles Scott Sherrington. After one term at Merton, Penfield went to France where he served as a dresser in a hospital in the suburbs of Paris. He was wounded in 1916 when the ferry he was aboard, returning to Merton College in 1919, Penfield spent the next two years completing his studies, during this time he met William Osler. In 1924, he worked for five months with Pío del Río Hortega characterising the type of cells known as oligodendroglia. He also studied in Germany and New York City, after taking a surgical apprenticeship under Harvey Cushing, he obtained a position at the Neurological Institute of New York, where he carried out his first solo operations to treat epilepsy. While in New York, he met David Rockefeller, who wished to endow an institute where Penfield could further study the surgical treatment of epilepsy. Academic politics amongst the New York neurologists, however, prevented its establishment in New York, so, in 1928, there, Penfield taught at McGill University and the Royal Victoria Hospital, becoming the citys first neurosurgeon. In 1934, Penfield founded and became the first director of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital at McGill University and that year, he also became a Canadian citizen. Penfield was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1950 and he was appointed to the Order of Merit in the 1953 New Year Honours list. He turned his attention to writing, producing a novel as well as his autobiography No Man Alone, in 1960, the year he retired, Penfield was awarded the Lister Medal for his contributions to surgical science. He delivered the corresponding Lister Oration, Activation of the Record of Human Experience, in 1967, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada and, in 1994, was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Much of his material is housed in the Osler Library at McGill University. In his later years, Penfield dedicated himself to the public interest, with his friends Governor-General Georges Vanier and Pauline Vanier, he co-founded the Vanier Institute of the Family to promote and guide education in the home – mans first classroom. He was also a proponent of childhood bilingualism

14.
Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital
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The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital is an academic medical centre dedicated to neuroscience research, training and clinical care. The institute is part of McGill University and the hospital is one of the six teaching hospitals of the McGill University Health Centre and they occupy separate sections of the same buildings on McGills downtown Montreal campus next to Molson Stadium. The institute and hospital are locally known as The Neuro, in the years since the MNIs first structure, the Rockefeller Pavilion was opened, several major structures were added to expand the scope of the MNIs research and clinical activities. The MNI is the site of many Canadian firsts, working under the same roof, the Neuros scientists and physicians made discoveries that drew world attention. Penfields technique for epilepsy neurosurgery became known as the Montreal procedure, elliott identified γ-aminobutyric acid as the first inhibitory neurotransmitter. M. Who had anterograde amnesia and was unable to form new memories, in 2007, the Canadian government recognized the innovation and work of the MNI by naming it one of seven national Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research. Although the hospital remains an institution, it was reintegrated with the institute in 2005 under the single directorship of Dr. David Colman. The Montreal Neurological Hospital is one of five teaching hospitals of the McGill University Health Centre. The MUHC plans to build a centre at a site called Glen Yards near downtown Montreal. Discussions surrounding the construction and financing of the MUHCs new centre have dragged on at the mercy of political, in November 2009, the Neuro celebrated its 75th anniversary. In late 2012, it was announced that the MNH will be moving to the Glen Campus MUHC super-hospital upon the latters completion. The Neuros activity covers the entire spectrum of research and patient care. The MNIs research units are integrated with the MNHs clinical activities. From its beginning, the MNI has promoted an environment for productive translational research, basic science discoveries are employed to improve patient care. Treatment is provided for patients who have ALS, brain tumours, epilepsy, migraine, multiple sclerosis, pain, Parkinson’s disease, patients also benefit from technical advances in brain imaging, neuro-radiology, neuro-navigation and neuro-stimulation. Many patients participate through the Clinical Research Unit in controlled studies of the newest treatments, former fellows hold prominent positions around the world. Today, trainees from more than 60 countries study at the Neuro, the Integrated Program in Neuroscience is the largest neuroscience training program in Canada with more than 160 faculty members and 280 graduate students. Since December 2016, the Neuro no longer patents researchers findings, Dr. Jacob Chandy was India’s first neurosurgeon and one of the country’s leading medical educators

15.
McGill University
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McGill University is a public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was established in 1821 by royal charter, issued by King George IV of Great Britain, the University bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Scotland whose bequest in 1813 formed the universitys precursor, McGill College. Its academic units are organized into 11 main Faculties and Schools, McGill offers degrees and diplomas in over 300 fields of study, with the highest average admission requirements of any Canadian university. Most students are enrolled in the five largest faculties, namely Arts, Science, Medicine, Engineering, tuition fees vary significantly between in-province, out-of-province, and international students, as well as between faculties. Scholarships are generous, yet highly competitive and relatively difficult to attain, throughout its long history, McGill alumni were instrumental in inventing or initially organizing football, basketball, and ice hockey. In 1816 the RIAL was authorized to operate two new Royal Grammar Schools, in Quebec City and in Montreal and this was an important first step in the creation of nondenominational schools. When James McGill died in 1813 his bequest was administered by the RIAL, the original two Royal Grammar Schools closed in 1846 and by the mid-19th century the RIAL lost control of the other 82 grammar schools it had administered. Its sole remaining purpose was to administer the McGill bequest on behalf of the private college, since the revised Royal Charter of 1852, The Trustees of the RIAL comprise the Board of Governors of McGill University. James McGill, born in Glasgow, Scotland on 6 October 1744, was a merchant in Quebec. Between 1811 and 1813, he drew up a will leaving his Burnside estate, a 19-hectare tract of rural land and 10,000 pounds to the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning. As a condition of the bequest, the land and funds had to be used for the establishment of a University or College, for the purposes of Education and the Advancement of Learning in the said Province. On March 31,1821, after protracted battles with the Desrivières family. The Charter provided that the College should be deemed and taken as a University, the Faculty of Medicine granted its first degree, a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery, in 1833, this was also the first medical degree to be awarded in Canada. The Faculty of Medicine remained the only functioning faculty until 1843 when the Faculty of Arts commenced teaching in the newly constructed Arts Building. The university also historically has strong linkage with The Canadian Grenadier Guards and this title is marked upon the stone that stands before the Arts building, from where the Guards step off annually to commemorate Remembrance Day. The Faculty of Law was founded in 1848 which is also the oldest of its kind in the nation,48 years later, the school of architecture at McGill University was founded. Sir John William Dawson, McGills principal from 1855 to 1893, is credited with transforming the school into a modern university. He recruited the aid of Montreals wealthiest citizens, many of whom donated property and their names adorn many of the campuss prominent buildings

16.
Cerebral cortex
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The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain, in humans and other mammals. It is separated into two cortices, by the fissure that divides the cerebrum into the left and right cerebral hemispheres. The two hemispheres are joined beneath the cortex by the corpus callosum, the cerebral cortex plays a key role in memory, attention, perception, awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. In large mammals, the cortex is folded, giving a much greater surface area in the confined volume of the skull. A fold or ridge in the cortex is termed a gyrus, in the human brain more than two-thirds of the cerebral cortex is buried in the sulci. The human cerebral cortex is 2 to 4 millimetres thick, the cerebral cortex is composed of gray matter, consisting mainly of cell bodies and capillaries. It contrasts with the white matter, consisting mainly of the white myelinated sheaths of neuronal axons. The most recent part of the cortex to develop in the evolutionary history of mammals is the neocortex. Neurons in various layers connect vertically to form small microcircuits, called cortical columns, Different neocortical regions known as Brodmann areas are distinguished by variations in their cytoarchitectonics and functional roles in sensation, cognition and behavior. The different cortical layers each contain a distribution of neuronal cell types. There are direct connections between different cortical areas and indirect connections via the thalamus, for example, one of the clearest examples of cortical layering is the stria of Gennari in the primary visual cortex. This is a band of tissue that can be observed with the naked eye in the fundus of the calcarine sulcus of the occipital lobe. The Stria of Gennari is composed of axons bringing visual information from the thalamus into layer four of the visual cortex, during development Cajal-Retzius and subpial granular layer cells are present in this layer. Also, some spiny stellate cells can be found here, inputs to the apical tufts are thought to be crucial for the ‘‘feedback’’ interactions in the cerebral cortex involved in associative learning and attention. Layer II, the granular layer, contains small pyramidal neurons. Layer V, the internal pyramidal layer, contains large pyramidal neurons which give rise to axons leaving the cortex and that is, layer VI neurons from one cortical column connect with thalamus neurons that provide input to the same cortical column. These connections are both excitatory and inhibitory, neurons send excitatory fibers to neurons in the thalamus and also send collaterals to the thalamic reticular nucleus that inhibit these same thalamus neurons or ones adjacent to them. One theory is that because the output is reduced by cholinergic input to the cerebral cortex

17.
Barry Beyerstein
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Barry L Beyerstein was a scientific skeptic and professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. He was founder and chair of the BC Skeptics Society, a Fellow and member of the Executive Council of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Associate editor of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine Journal as well as a contributor to Skeptical Inquirer Magazine, Beyerstein was one of the original faculty of CSICOPs Skeptics Toolbox. Beyerstein was a co-founder of the Canadian for Rational Health Policy and he was a founding board member of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy and contributed to the International Journal of Drug Policy. According to long-time friend James Alcock, Beyerstein once addressed the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health during discussions leading up to the passage of the Controlled Substances Act, along with his brother Dale, Barry was active in the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. When his father would build a house, the family would live in it for a while, moved thirty times within his neighborhood while growing up. Raised on magazines Fate and Popular Science as well as many paranormal TV shows, inclined me toward an eventual career in the study of consciousness”. Intrigued throughout high school with séances, handwriting analysis, hypnosis and other beliefs, Beyerstein with the help of his friends. This was far before he learned about experimental controls, which explained the constant success of their tests, entering Simon Fraser University in 1965, Beyerstein declared his major in psychology with a minor in philosophy. “As I delved deeper into those subjects, I began to doubt the inevitability of a happy marriage between science and the paranormal. After my first course in the philosophy of science, the fundamental assumptions and modus operandi of science were seriously at odds with most of what I knew of physical research. ”By his junior year in college he was hooked on studying the brain. I frequently found myself the odd man out. I was a guy, but hopelessly linear and left-brained, despite my de rigueur shoulder-length hair, tie-dye T-shirt, bell bottoms and cowboy boots. ”Beyerstein received his B. A. from Simon Fraser University in 1968. In the 1970s Beyerstein collaborated with his colleague Bruce K. Alexander on the famous Rat Park study of addiction and he has been publicly critical of unsupported claims of techniques to improve brain function. If the 10% statement were accurate then the brain could take more damage without affecting the quality of life, at the Skeptics Toolbox in 1993, Beyerstein laid out the unified theory by psychologists concerning brain function and the paranormal. This theory holds that all phenomena are products of the physical brain. While working as a Professor at Simon Fraiser, Beyerstein was asked to oversee an approval of a pro-parapsychology class and he assembled the writings of some of the leading figures in the nascent skeptics alliance that Paul Kurtz was in the process of forging. This is when Beyerstein became aware of CSICOP and got hooked on it, after writing for Skeptical Inquirer magazine Beyerstein was elected to the Executive Council

18.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
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Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI is a functional neuroimaging procedure using MRI technology that measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area of the brain is in use, blood flow to that also increases. The primary form of fMRI uses the blood-oxygen-level dependent contrast, discovered by Seiji Ogawa and this measure is frequently corrupted by noise from various sources and hence statistical procedures are used to extract the underlying signal. The resulting brain activation can be presented graphically by color-coding the strength of activation across the brain or the specific region studied, the technique can localize activity to within millimeters but, using standard techniques, no better than within a window of a few seconds. Other methods of obtaining contrast are arterial spin labeling and diffusion MRI, the latter procedure is similar to BOLD fMRI but provides contrast based on the magnitude of diffusion of water molecules in the brain. FMRI is used both in the world, and to a lesser extent, in the clinical world. It can also be combined and complemented with other measures of brain physiology such as EEG, newer methods which improve both spatial and time resolution are being researched, and these largely use biomarkers other than the BOLD signal. Some companies have developed products such as lie detectors based on fMRI techniques. The fMRI concept builds on the earlier MRI scanning technology and the discovery of properties of oxygen-rich blood, MRI brain scans use a strong, permanent, static magnetic field to align nuclei in the brain region being studied. Another magnetic field, the gradient field, is applied to spatially locate different nuclei. Finally, a pulse is played to kick the nuclei to higher magnetization levels. When the RF field is removed, the nuclei go back to their states. MRI thus provides a static view of brain matter. The central thrust behind fMRI was to extend MRI to capture changes in the brain caused by neuronal activity. Differences in magnetic properties between arterial and venous blood provided this link, since the 1890s it has been known that changes in blood flow and blood oxygenation in the brain are closely linked to neural activity. When neurons become active, local blood flow to those regions increases. This rises to a peak over 4–6 seconds, before falling back to the original level, oxygen is carried by the hemoglobin molecule in red blood cells

19.
Sleep
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It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but is more easily reversed than the state of being comatose. Sleep occurs in repeating periods, in which the body alternates between two distinct modes known as non-REM and REM sleep. Although REM stands for rapid eye movement, sleep affects other brain-body functions, during sleep, most systems are in an anabolic state, helping to restore the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems. The internal circadian clock promotes sleep daily at night, however, sleep patterns vary among individuals. In the last century, artificial light has substantially altered sleep timing in industrialized countries, the diverse purposes and mechanisms of sleep are the subject of substantial ongoing research. Sleep seems to assist with improvements in the body and mind, Research in the 21st century is investigating whether sleep is a period of maintenance for removing metabolic waste compounds from the brain. Sleep is sometimes confused with unconsciousness, but is different in terms of the thought process. REM and non-REM sleep are so different that physiologists classify them as distinct behavioral states, REM sleep is associated with desynchronized and fast brain waves, loss of muscle tone, and suspension of homeostasis. NREM is considered to be sleep, it shows no prominent eye movement or muscle paralysis. Sleep occurs in cycles of approximately 90 minutes and this rhythm is called the ultradian sleep cycle. Sleep proceeds in cycles of NREM and REM, normally in that order, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine divides NREM into three stages, N1, N2, and N3, the last of which is also called delta sleep or slow-wave sleep. The whole period normally proceeds in the order, N1 → N2 → N3 → N2 → REM, REM sleep occurs as a person returns to stage 2 or 1 from a deep sleep. An adult reaches REM approximately every 90 minutes, REM sleep usually lasts for longer during latter half of sleep than in the part of the sleep episode. There is an amount of deep sleep earlier in the night. Key physiological indicators in sleep include EEG of brain waves, electrooculography of eye movements, simultaneous collection of these measurements is called polysomnography, and can be performed in a specialized sleep laboratory. In other words, sleeping persons perceive fewer stimuli, however, they can generally still respond to loud noises and other salient sensory events. Awakening can mean the end of sleep, or simply a moment to survey the environment, sleepers typically awaken from slow-wave sleep, soon after the end of a REM phase or sometimes in the middle of REM. Internal circadian indicators, along with reduction of homeostatic sleep need, typically bring about awakening

20.
Natural selection
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Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in heritable traits of a population over time, Charles Darwin popularised the term natural selection, and compared it with artificial selection. Variation exists within all populations of organisms and this occurs partly because random mutations arise in the genome of an individual organism, and offspring can inherit such mutations. Throughout the lives of the individuals, their genomes interact with their environments to cause variations in traits, the environment of a genome includes the molecular biology in the cell, other cells, other individuals, populations, species, as well as the abiotic environment. Individuals with certain variants of the trait may survive and reproduce more than individuals with other, less successful, variants, therefore, factors that affect reproductive success are also important, including sexual selection and fecundity selection. Over time, this process can result in populations that specialise for particular ecological niches, in other words, natural selection is a key process in the evolution of a population. Natural selection can be contrasted with artificial selection, in which humans intentionally choose specific traits, Natural selection is one of the cornerstones of modern biology. The concept of natural selection originally developed in the absence of a theory of heredity, at the time of Darwins writing. The union of traditional Darwinian evolution with subsequent discoveries in classical genetics formed the synthesis of the mid-20th century. The addition of molecular genetics has led to developmental biology. While genotypes can slowly change by random genetic drift, natural selection remains the primary explanation for adaptive evolution, empedocles idea that organisms arose entirely by the incidental workings of causes such as heat and cold was criticised by Aristotle in Book II of Physics. He posited natural teleology in its place, and believed that form was achieved for a purpose, nevertheless, he accepted in his biology that new types of animals, monstrosities, can occur in very rare instances. And in like manner as to the parts in which there appears to exist an adaptation to an end. Yet it is impossible that this should be the true view, for teeth and all other natural things either invariably or normally come about in a given way, but of not one of the results of chance or spontaneity is this true. We do not ascribe to chance or mere coincidence the frequency of rain in winter, but frequent rain in summer we do, nor heat in the dog-days, therefore action for an end is present in things which come to be and are by nature. The struggle for existence was later described by the Islamic writer Al-Jahiz in the 9th century, the classical arguments were reintroduced in the 18th century by Pierre Louis Maupertuis and others, including Darwins grandfather, Erasmus Darwin. Until the early 19th century, the view in Western societies was that differences between individuals of a species were uninteresting departures from their Platonic ideals of created kinds. However, the theory of uniformitarianism in geology promoted the idea that simple and this theory, Lamarckism, was an influence on the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenkos antagonism to mainstream genetic theory as late as the mid 20th century

21.
Localization of brain function
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Functional specialization suggests that different areas in the brain are specialized for different functions. Gall and Spurzheim were the first to observe the crossing of pyramidal tracts, however, Gall and Spurzheim did not attempt to justify phrenology on anatomical grounds. It has been argued that phrenology was fundamentally a science of race, in Italy, Luigi Rolando carried out lesion experiments and performed electrical stimulation of the brain, including the Rolandic area. Subsequent cases gave further support to the doctrine of specialization, currently, there are two major theories of the brains cognitive function. The first is the theory of modularity, stemming from phrenology, this theory supports functional specialization, suggesting the brain has different modules that are domain specific in function. The second theory, distributive processing, proposes that the brain is more interactive, each orientation plays a role within certain aims and tend to complement each other. The theory of modularity suggests that there are specialized regions in the brain that are domain specific for different cognitive processes. Jerry Fodor expanded the notion of phrenology by creating his Modularity of the Mind theory. The Modularity of the Mind theory indicates that distinct neurological regions called modules are defined by their roles in cognition. He also rooted many of his concepts on modularity back to philosophers like Descartes, an example of Fodors concept of modules is seen in cognitive processes such as vision, which have many separate mechanisms for colour, shape and spatial perception. One of the beliefs of domain specificity and the theory of modularity suggests that it is a consequence of natural selection and is a feature of our cognitive architecture. Research on this perspective suggests that domain specificity is involved in the development of cognition because it allows one to pinpoint adaptive problems. An issue for the theory of cognitive neuroscience is that there are cortical anatomical differences from person to person. Although many studies of modularity are undertaken from very specific case studies. For example, two subjects would fundamentally be the same neurologically before their lesions, and after have distinctly different cognitive deficits, the difficulty with this theory is that in typical non-lesioned subjects, locations within the brain anatomy are similar but not completely identical. There is a defense for this inherent deficit in our ability to generalize when using functional localizing techniques. To account for this problem, the coordinate-based Talairach and Tournoux stereotaxic system is used to compare subjects results to a standard brain using an algorithm. Another solution using coordinates involves comparing brains using sulcal reference points, a slightly newer technique is to use functional landmarks, which combines sulcal and gyral landmarks and then finding an area well known for its modularity such as the fusiform face area

22.
Synaptic pruning
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Synaptic pruning or axon pruning is the process of synapse elimination that occurs between early childhood and the onset of puberty in many mammals, including humans. Pruning starts near the time of birth and is completed by the time of maturation in humans. At birth, the brain consists of approximately 86 billion neurons. The infant brain will increase in size by a factor of up to 5 by adulthood, two factors contribute to this growth, the growth of synaptic connections between neurons, and the myelination of nerve fibers, the total number of neurons, however, remains the same. Pruning is influenced by factors and is widely thought to represent learning. After adolescence, the volume of the synaptic connections decreases again due to synaptic pruning, at birth, the neurons in the visual and motor cortices have connections to the superior colliculus, spinal cord, and pons. The neurons in each cortex are selectively pruned, leaving connections that are made with the appropriate processing centers. Therefore, the neurons in the visual cortex prune the synapses with neurons in the cord. This variation of pruning is known as large-scaled stereotyped axon pruning, neurons send long axon branches to appropriate and inappropriate target areas, and the inappropriate connections are eventually pruned away. Regressive events refine the abundance of connections, seen in neurogenesis, to create a specific, apoptosis and pruning are the two main methods of severing the undesired connections. In apoptosis, the neuron is killed and all associated with the neuron are also eliminated. In contrast, the neuron does not die in pruning, the pruning that is associated with learning is known as small-scale axon terminal arbor pruning. Axons extend short axon terminal arbors toward neurons within a target area, certain terminal arbors are pruned by competition. The selection of the pruned terminal arbors follow the use it or lose it principle seen in synaptic plasticity and this means synapses that are frequently used have strong connections while the rarely used synapses are eliminated. They showed that, on average, estimates of adult neuron populations were 41% lower than those of the newborns in the region they measured, the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus. However, in terms of cells, adults had far larger estimates than those in newborns,36.3 million on average in adult brains. The structure of the brain is thought to change when degeneration and deafferentation occur in postnatal situations, synaptic pruning is classified separately from the regressive events seen during older ages. While developmental pruning is experience dependent, the connections that are synonymous with old age are not

23.
Default mode network
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In neuroscience, the default mode network, is a network of interacting brain regions known to have activity highly correlated with each other and distinct from other networks in the brain. The default mode network is most commonly shown to be active when a person is not focused on the outside world, but it is also active when the individual is thinking about others, thinking about themselves, remembering the past, and planning for the future. The network activates by default when a person is not involved in a task, the DMN has been shown to be negatively correlated with other networks in the brain such as attention networks. Thinking about others also could include guessing their thoughts, emotions, evidence has pointed to disruptions in the DMN with people with Alzheimer’s and autism spectrum disorder. Mind-wandering usually involves thinking about others, thinking about self, remembering the past. Electrocorticography studies have shown the default mode network becomes activated within an order of a fraction of a second after participants finish a task. Studies have shown that people watch a movie, listen to a story, or read a story. The default mode network is an interconnected and anatomically defined set of brain regions, the dorsal part of PCC involves involuntary awareness and arousal. The precuneus is involved in visual, sensorimotor, and attentional information, the ventral part is involved in positive emotional information and internally valued reward. The DMN can also be defined by the areas deactivated during external directed tasks compared to rest, function connectivity analysis in monkeys shows a similar network of regions to the default mode network seen in humans. The PCC is also a key hub in monkeys, however, diffusion MRI imaging shows white matter tracks connecting different areas of the DMN together. The structural connections found from diffusion MRI imaging and the functional correlations from resting state fMRI show the highest level of overlap and agreement within the DMN areas. This provides evidence that neurons in the DMN regions are linked to each other through tracks of axons. The default mode network has been hypothesized to be relevant to disorders including Alzheimers disease, autism, schizophrenia, depression, chronic pain, people with Alzheimer’s disease show a reduction in glucose within the areas of the default mode network. These reductions start off as slight decreases in patients and continue to large reductions in severe patients. Surprisingly, disruptions in the DMN begin even before individuals show signs of Alzheimer’s disease, plots of amyloid-beta, which is thought to cause Alzheimer’s disease, show the buildup of the protein is within the DMN. This prompted Randy Buckner and colleagues to propose the high metabolic rate from continuous activation of DMN causes more amyloid-beta protein to accumulate in these DMN areas. These amyloid-beta proteins disrupt the DMN and because the DMN is heavily involved in formation and retrieval

24.
Flight of the Navigator
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Flight of the Navigator is a 1986 American science fiction adventure film directed by Randal Kleiser and written by Mark H. Baker, Michael Burton and Matt MacManus. The film stars Joey Cramer as David Freeman, a 12-year-old boy who is abducted by an alien spaceship and it was partially shot in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Norway, it being a co-production with Norwegian company Viking Film. When he comes to, he discovers that 8 years have passed, meanwhile, an alien spaceship crashes through power lines and is promptly confiscated by NASA. David is taken to a hospital for tests, but is sent to a NASA research facility when his brainwaves reveal images of the spaceship. Dr. Davids subconscious mind tells the scientists that he was taken to a planet called Phaelon,560 light years away, in just over 4.4 hours. They realize that David has experienced severe time dilation as a result of having traveled faster than the speed of light, explaining why eight years have passed on Earth, but not for him. David is unable to comprehend what Faraday tells him and flees the room, the next morning, following a telepathic communication from the ship, David secretly boards it and meets its robotic commander called Trimaxion Drone Ship, which refers to David as the Navigator. Phaelons scientists discovered humans only use 10% of their brain and, as an experiment and this includes all of the star charts discovered by Phaelons astronomers, some of which were shown to the NASA scientists during Davids interrogation. Max then returned him to Earth, but did not take him back to his own time, before leaving Earth, Max accidentally crashed the ship, erasing all the computers star charts and data. Therefore, Max needs the information in Davids brain to return home, Max and David start bickering while their antics trigger several UFO reports in Tokyo and other cities. When the ship stops at a gas station in the Florida Keys, David calls Jeff, Jeff sets off fireworks on the rooftop. David and Max arrive near the house, but NASA agents, having tracked the ships every move, fearing that he would be institutionalized for life if he remains in 1986, he orders Max to return him to 1978, regardless of the risk to his life. After the journey back in time, David wakes up in the ravine, walks home, during the Fourth of July celebration, he watches Max flash across the sky against the backdrop of fireworks while Jeff is surprised to see the Puckmaren in Davids backpack. Louis Faraday Robert Small as Troy Jonathan Sanger as Dr, the music score for the film was composed by Alan Silvestri. It is distinct from his scores in being entirely electronically generated, using the Synclavier. Kevin Thomas of the LA Times said its biggest plus was its entirely believable, the New York Times described it as definitely a film most children can enjoy. Empire gave it 3/5 stars, saying it was enough to keep the family happy. Variety was more critical, announcing that instead of creating an eye-opening panorama, dave Kehr gave it 3 stars and described it as a new high for Disney

25.
The Dark Fields
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The Dark Fields is a 2001 techno-thriller novel by Irish writer Alan Glynn. It was re-released in March 2011 under the title Limitless, in order to coincide with its 2011 film adaptation, Edward Eddie Spinola is a copywriter at a small publishing house in New York City. Using his newly acquired intellect, Edward amasses a small fortune short selling technology stocks, however, his indiscriminate use of the drug leads to panic attacks and blackouts. Edward is suspected of bludgeoning Donatella Alvarez, the wife of a prominent Mexican artist, armed with this knowledge, Edward resumes taking MDT and is filled with a renewed surge of energy and motivation. This proves to be a mere stop-gap measure, as Edward realizes the need to secure a steady supply and his stash running out, Edward makes a desperate attempt to blackmail the pharmaceutical conglomerate responsible for developing MDT into providing him with continued access to the drug. His gambit fails when men break into his apartment and steal his remaining MDT and he then receives an anonymous phone call on his land-line informing him that he had been under surveillance all along, and an unwitting guinea pig into a clandestine clinical trial for the drug. Facing imminent death from withdrawal, Edward comes to terms with his own actions and travels to Mahopac, New York, the Dark Fields was first published in the UK by Little, Brown and Company in 2001, and in the US by Bloomsbury USA in 2002. Macmillan in the US and Faber and Faber in the UK later republished the novel under the title Limitless to coincide with the film adaptation of that name. Limitless is a 2011 American thriller based on The Dark Fields, the film was directed by Neil Burger and starred Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Andrew Howard and Robert De Niro. It was released in the United States and Canada on March 18,2011, the screenplay roughly mirrors the events portrayed in the book, albeit with a number of significant differences. For example, the novel is set during the peak and subsequent collapse of the Dot-com bubble, meanwhile, and while Edward mentions adverse market conditions indicating a bear market, the viewer is never given a clear time frame for the events portrayed in the film. Similarly, any mention of the tensions between the United States and Mexico is also absent from the movie adaptation, as is any reference to government involvement with MDT-48. The role of characters was also changed in the movie adaptation. Hank Atwood, for instance, who is shown to be fond of Edward in the novel, has no qualms about hiring a hitman to eliminate him. Carl Van Loon, too, takes a similarly antagonistic view towards Edward, the Dark Fields is mentioned in the film as the name of the book written by the main character. A spinoff of the novel, based on the film, premiered in 2015 and it is a sequel which follows the events of the film. Understand, a 1991 novelette by Ted Chiang, nominated for the 1992 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, Limitless, the movie in a minute on YouTube Limitless by Alan Glynn--Audiobook Excerpt on YouTube

26.
White Night (The Dresden Files)
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White Night is the 9th book in The Dresden Files, Jim Butchers continuing series about wizard detective Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. The cover art by illustrator Christian McGrath depicts Harry walking down a street with his glowing staff. A year after the events in Proven Guilty, Dresden is called by Murphy to the scene of an apparent suicide, after investigating another victim, Dresden realizes a serial killer of magical practitioners is loose in Chicago. Investigating, he meets with a group of practitioners whove banded together and hired Elaine, Harrys former lover, Cowl detects Dresden and blasts his psychic thread. Dresden wakes up next to his model of Chicago, which absorbed most of the blast. Before Thomas can finish explaining, Madrigal Raith and his ghouls attack, following more deaths and investigation, Harry figures out the Skavis is one of the women in time to save Elaine from its attack. Elaine is hospitalized, so Dresden calls Carlos Ramirez to help him fight Grey Cloak, Dresden, Ramirez, Molly and Mouse head to the Raith estate for the White Court conclave. Vittorio and Madrigal accept the duel to the death and they all fight with a combination of physical and magical weaponry and defenses. Vittorio calls Cowl, who opens a gate from Nevernever, ushering in an army of ghouls, while the ghouls rampage, Dresden opens another gate. Thomas, Murphy, Marcone, and his mercenaries arrive with automatic weapons and they escort Lord Raith, Lara, and their entourage to Dresdens gate. Vittorio casts a spell that crushes Dresden, Lara, Thomas, inside a time warp bubble, Dresden and Lash, the demonic shadow possessing Dresden, discuss free will and Lasciels coin. Dresden refuses to accept the coin to defeat the vampires, tortured by self-awareness, Lash sacrifices herself to protect Dresdens mind from Vittorios spell. Suddenly free, Dresden blasts Vittorio with Marcones shotgun, breaking the spell on the others, as Thomas hauls Marcone through the gate, Cowl closes it, stranding Lara and Dresden. Marcones explosives go off and the cavern collapses, Dresden folds his shield into a bubble around Lara and himself. They ride the explosion of fire out of the tunnel to safety, Dresden finds out Lara was behind the plot to kill the female practitioners, and extracts a restitution and bond against future killings. Discussing the future with Elaine, he encourages her plan to develop, in exchange for his help, Marcone becomes a freeholding baron under the Unseelie Accords. Later, Dresden digs up Lasciels coin and gives it to Father Forthill, anna Ash, head of the Ordo Lebes, an organization of minor female practitioners. Priscilla, member of the Ordo Lebes, vittoro Malvora, White Court vampire working with Madrigal Raith Link To Audiobook Penguin USA

27.
Jim Butcher
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Jim Butcher is an American author best known for his contemporary fantasy book series The Dresden Files. He is also the author of the Codex Alera series, Butcher was born in Independence, Missouri, in 1971. He is the youngest of three children, having two older sisters, as a teenager, he completed his first novel and set out to become a writer. For two years, Butcher floated his manuscript among various publishers before hitting the circuit to make contacts in the industry. After meeting Butcher in person, Ricia Mainhardt, the agent who discovered Laurell K. Hamilton, agreed to represent him, however, Butcher and Mainhardt have since parted ways, Jennifer Jackson is his current agent. Butcher has written two series, The Dresden Files and Codex Alera, Codex Alera has ended after six novels and The Dresden Files are still ongoing, he has also written a Spider-Man novel, entitled The Darkest Hours, released on June 27,2006. In addition, he contributed a story for publication in My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding with Charlaine Harris and Sherrilyn Kenyon, among others. He has since contributed to the anthologies Many Bloody Returns in September 2007, in October 2008, he released another short story in Blood Lite and a novelette, Backup, illustrated by Mike Mignola. Six months after Butcher was signed by Mainhardt, Storm Front and it was released as a paperback in April 2000. Fool Moon followed nine months later on January 1,2001, thereafter, the release schedule slowed, with Summer Knight appearing on September 3,2002. The fifth and sixth books, Death Masks and Blood Rites, appeared in August 2003 and 2004, Dead Beat, released on May 3,2005, was the first hardback release in the series by Roc. The first printing of 15,000 copies sold out in three days, and the book was immediately reprinted, Proven Guilty quickly climbed to #21 on the New York Times Best Seller List and #91 on the USA Today list. A third omnibus release from the Science Fiction Book Club entitled Wizard at Large and containing Blood Rites, a ninth book from Roc, White Night, was released on April 3,2007, shortly after the paperback edition for Proven Guilty in February. White Night reached the top five of the New York Times Best Seller List on a printing of 100,000 copies. Small Favor, the book in the series, was released April 1,2008. It debuted at two on the New York Times Best Seller List, Butchers highest debut ever, and number three on the USA Today best seller list. The eleventh book in the series, Turn Coat, was released April 7,2009, the 12th book in the series, Changes, was released April 6,2010. The 13th book, Ghost Story, was released July 26,2011, the 14th book, Cold Days was released in hardback in November 2012

28.
The Dresden Files
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The Dresden Files is a series of contemporary fantasy/mystery novels written by Jim Butcher. The first novel, Storm Front, was published in 2000 by Roc Books, Butchers original proposed title for the first novel was Semiautomagic, which sums up the series balance of fantasy and hard-boiled detective fiction. As of 2014, Butcher has written 15 novels set in the Dresden Files universe, the series has also been released in audiobook format, narrated by James Marsters. Other works set in the fictional universe include graphic novels. In 2007, a series based on the novels aired for one season on the American Sci-Fi Channel. In the world of The Dresden Files, magic is real, along with vampires, demons, spirits, faeries, werewolves, outsiders, although the supernatural is still widely discredited, it is practiced by some members of society. Additionally, large portions of the globe are mentioned as being largely under the control of supernatural factions, the White Council is an organization of human wizards, noted to wield significant economic power in the world, along with their supernatural power. Each species in the series has its own political and societal rules, the human wizards depend on the White Council, while faeries may belong to either of two Faerie Courts, or none at all. Vampires may belong to any of four vampire courts, harry Dresden works as the worlds only consulting wizard, accepting supernatural cases from both human and non-human clients, as well as the Chicago PDs Special Investigation unit. Jim Butcher decided to become an author at the age of nineteen. Subsequently he wrote three novels within the genre and one which he has classified as paranormal—books which the author has described as being terrible. Despite initial resistance, he wrote the first book that semester, closely following the instructions of his teacher, the result was Semiautomagic, later to be retitled as Storm Front. His writing teacher declared it to be publishable, and Butcher started hunting around to do just that, Butcher failed to secure a publisher for two to three years. During this period he completed the novel, Fool Moon. Deciding to focus on agents and editors who had published similar novels, Butcher targeted Ricia Mainhardt, the agent representing Laurell Hamilton. Finally, Butcher met Hamilton at a convention, and was invited to lunch along with Mainhardt, Mainhardt agreed to represent him, and six months later The Dresden Files was sold to ROC, an imprint of Penguin Books. Subsequent novels in the series have been published annually since then, with the most recent novel, Skin Game, omnibus editions have been released by the Science Fiction Book Club, with each of the four volumes reprinting two or three of the novels in the sequence. The series first six novels were only published as paperbacks

29.
Limitless (film)
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Limitless is a 2011 American thriller film directed by Neil Burger. Based on the novel The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn, the film stars Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Limitless was released on March 18,2011, and became a box office success after grossing over $161 million on a budget of $27 million. A television series of the name, covering events that take place after the film, debuted on September 22,2015. Eddie Morra is an author with writers block. His girlfriend Lindy, frustrated with his lack of progress, breaks up with him, later, Eddie bumps into Vernon, the forgotten brother of his ex-wife, Melissa. Vernon gives Eddie a sample of a new nootropic, NZT-48, returning to his apartment, Eddie takes the drug and discovers he now has perfect recall and the ability to cross-correlate information quickly. He cleans his apartment obsessively in a few hours, and finishes writing his new book, the next day, the effects having worn off, he brings the pages he wrote to his publisher, who praises them. Eddie seeks out Vernon in an attempt to get more, but while he is running errands for him, Eddie discovers Vernons NZT-48 supply and begins ingesting the drug daily. With the help of the effects, Eddie spends a few weeks cleaning up his life. Testing his analytical skills on the market with Vernons stash of money. He borrows $100,000 from a reluctant Russian loan shark, Gennady, and is hired at a brokerage firm, Eddies success leads to a meeting with finance tycoon Carl Van Loon, He tests Eddie by seeking advice on a merger with Hank Atwoods company. After the big meeting in downtown Manhattan, Eddie starts experiencing hallucinations, as this effect recurs over the course of the day and night he finds himself in several disparate places, after which 18 hours have passed which he cannot remember. Eddie goes through Vernons ledger and discovers that everyone taking NZT-48 is either in the hospital or dead, a man in a trench coat is revealed to have been following him. Gennady later catches Eddie going home and demands the money be paid back with interest immediately and he then discovers the prized drug and starts using Eddie as his source for NZT-48. Eddie experiments with NZT-48 and learns to control his dosage, sleep schedule, on the day of the merger, Atwoods wife informs Van Loon that Atwood has fallen into a coma. Eddie recognizes Atwoods driver as the man in the trench coat, while Eddie participates in a police lineup, his attorney steals Eddies whole supply of NZT-48 from his jacket. Soon afterward, Eddie enters withdrawal, and hurries home when Van Loon questions him about Atwoods coma, Gennady breaks into Eddies apartment, demanding more NZT-48, but Eddie kills him and his henchmen and escapes. He meets with the man in the coat, surmising that Atwood employed the man to locate more NZT-48

30.
Manga
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Manga are comics created in Japan or by creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art, the term manga in Japan is a word used to refer to both comics and cartooning. Manga as a term used outside Japan refers to comics published in Japan. In Japan, people of all ages read manga, many manga are translated into other languages. Since the 1950s, manga has become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry, representing a ¥406 billion market in Japan in 2007. Manga have also gained a significant worldwide audience, in Europe and the Middle East the market was worth $250 million in 2012. In 2008, in the U. S. and Canada, the market was valued at $175 million, the markets in France. Manga stories are printed in black-and-white, although some full-color manga exist. In Japan, manga are usually serialized in manga magazines, often containing many stories. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in tankōbon volumes, frequently but not exclusively, a manga artist typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company. If a manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run, sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live-action or animated films. Manga-influenced comics, among original works, exist in parts of the world, particularly in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan. The word manga comes from the Japanese word 漫画, composed of the two kanji 漫 meaning whimsical or impromptu and 画 meaning pictures, rakuten Kitazawa first used the word manga in the modern sense. In Japanese, manga refers to all kinds of cartooning, comics, among English speakers, manga has the stricter meaning of Japanese comics, in parallel to the usage of anime in and outside Japan. The term ani-manga is used to describe comics produced from animation cels, writers on manga history have described two broad and complementary processes shaping modern manga. One view emphasizes events occurring during and after the U. S, occupation of Japan, and stresses U. S. cultural influences, including U. S. comics and images and themes from U. S. television, film, and cartoons. Regardless of its source, an explosion of artistic creativity certainly occurred in the period, involving manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka. Astro Boy quickly became popular in Japan and elsewhere

31.
Psyren
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Psyren, literally meaning Siren and stylized as PSYЯEN, is a Japanese shōnen manga series by Toshiaki Iwashiro. Psyren follows Ageha Yoshina, a school student who is chosen by Nemesis Q as a participant in the Psyren games. The games take place in a world known initially as Psyren, Ageha and his friends attempt to alter the future and save the world from becoming Psyren. Psyren had been serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump since December 3,2007 till November 29,2010. The series began publication in America starting with the January 2011 issue of Shonen Jump, after Ageha Yoshina beats up a bully for 10,000 yen, he heads home anticipating a scolding from his sister for breaking curfew. On his way there, a pay phone nearby starts ringing, shrugging it off, he places the receiver back only to find a mysterious calling card with the word Psyren written on it. Curious about the appearance of the card, he goes to his schools Occult Club. It turns about Psyren was a myth, and whoever found out what it really was would get a reward of 500 million yen. The same day, he find his classmates wallet, which some other girls hid, after he returns it to her, she runs off and disappears. The last thing he hears is Save me, the next day she isnt at school and soon she is declared missing. Ageha calls the number on the card in hopes of finding her, after answering a long and detailed quiz on a pay phone, he is asked if he wants to go to Psyren. The next day, while he is being chased by two mysterious people pretending to be officers, ironically his phone rings. In a panic, he picks up and is drawn into the world of Psyren. It is later revealed that the Taboo were once humans that were turned into Taboo by a known as the W. I. S. E. The voice from the phone, dubbed Nemesis Q, assigns missions which people must complete if they wish to return home and this lets them use a power called PSI, which usually lies dormant, and is usually never awakened. PSI consists of three categories, Enhance, Blast, and Trance, as the game continues Ageha and his friends meet a group of kids who are adopted by Elmore Tenju, the old lady who posted the 500 million reward offer. Each child has the ability to use PSI, and Tenju has trained them to one day fight W. I. S. E as the hope of the world, each child has their own distinct and unique abilities and traumatic background. Ageha stays with them for a while and his abilities really start to grow with the help of techniques developed by the children and they train until he gets called back through his phone and goes back to fight in the game

32.
Lucy (2014 film)
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Lucy is a 2014 English-language French science fiction action film written and directed by Luc Besson and produced by his wife Virginie Besson-Silla for his company Europacorp. The film was shot in Taipei, Paris and New York City and it stars Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik and Amr Waked. Johansson portrays the character, a woman who gains psychokinetic abilities when a nootropic drug is absorbed into her bloodstream. The film was released on July 25,2014, and became a box office success, Lucy Miller is a 24-year-old American woman living and studying in Taipei, Taiwan. She is tricked into working as a mule by her new boyfriend whose employer, Mr. Jang, is a Korean mob boss. Lucy delivers a briefcase to Mr. Jang containing a highly valuable synthetic drug called CPH4, after seeing her boyfriend shot and killed, she is captured. A bag of the drug is forcibly sewn into her abdomen, while Lucy is in captivity, one of her captors kicks her in the abdomen, breaking the bag and releasing a large quantity of the drug into her system. As a result, she begins acquiring increasingly enhanced physical and mental capabilities, such as telepathy, telekinesis, mental time travel, and she kills off her captors and escapes. Lucy travels to the nearby Tri-Service General Hospital to get the bag of drugs removed from her abdomen, Lucy is fortunate to have survived having such a large amount introduced into her body. At her shared apartment, Lucy begins researching her condition and contacts well-known scientist, during the plane ride, she starts to disintegrate as her cells destabilize from consuming a sip of champagne, which made her body inhospitable for cellular reproduction. Only by consuming more CPH4 is she able to prevent her total disintegration and her powers continue to grow, leaving her able to telepathically incapacitate armed police and members from the Korean drug gang. With the help of Del Rio, Lucy recovers the drug, Jang and the mob also want the drug and a gunfight ensues with the French police. In the professors lab, Lucy discusses the nature of time and life and she tells the scientists that time is the only true measure of human life and of existence. At her urging, she is injected with the contents of all three remaining bags of CPH4. She then begins a journey into the past, eventually reaching the oldest discovered ancestor of mankind. She touches fingertips with her, then all the way to the beginning of time. Meanwhile, back in the lab, after an M136 AT4 anti-tank weapon destroys the door, Jang enters, only her clothes, Louboutin shoes and the black supercomputer are left behind. Del Rio enters and fatally shoots Jang, Professor Norman takes a black, presumably highly advanced flash drive offered by the advanced supercomputer, after which the computer disintegrates

33.
MythBusters (2010 season)
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The cast of the television series MythBusters perform experiments to verify or debunk urban legends, old wives tales, and the like. This is a list of the myths tested on the show as well as the results of the experiments. Original air date, January 4,2010 Adam and Jamie probe a potentially fatal three-way ricochet, Original air date, March 24,2010 This episode was Jessi Combss final appearance as a member of the Build Team. Original air date, March 31,2010 Kari Byron returns to the series as of this episode. Original air date, April 7,2010 Based on countless car chase scenes from spy movies, the MythBusters then built their own car-stopping devices. They then attempted to see if a pursuer could be stopped with. They then built a chair for test subjects to sit in, with an ice bath at 1 °C into which they would immerse one hand for as long as they could endure it, the following four myths were tested. Original air date, May 5,2010 Jamie and Adam revisited the Compact Compact myth after fans complained about a claim Jamie made in the earlier episode. During the investigation he had said that two cars hitting each other at 50 mph is equivalent to an impact going into a solid wall at 100 miles an hour. This was disputed by claiming that according to Newtons third law. The fans put forward a number of arguments, citing that the Build Team did not have a proper human analogue, the Build Team also decided to see whether hairy or hairless legs would be a factor in the myth. This myth was based on claims that companies use programs that calculate routes using as few left turns as possible to maximize fuel efficiency. Original air date, June 2,2010 Original air date, June 9,2010 Adam, Original air date, June 16,2010 A countdown of the casts 25 favorite myths and moments to date, with comments from Adam, Jamie, and the Build Team. Original air date, October 6,2010 A revisit of the Fool the Bloodhound myth from 2007, Adam and Jamie investigated new suggestions for evading detection by a scent hound, using the same dog and handler from that earlier episode. Given a five-minute head start, Jamie fled while using… Adam, four contraband-detecting dogs – Buck, Rex, Gypsy, Max – and their handlers took part in a series of tests arranged by the Build Team. The Build Team does not take part in this episode, the episode includes a memorial to Sanjay Singh, an EMT and Honorary MythBuster who died in 2010. Original air date, October 20,2010 This myth is based on the popular saying getting cold feet. Original air date, October 27,2010 Adam and Jamie explore a large-scale version of an old magic trick, one letter contained three separate myths, bringing the total number of tests in this episode to eight

34.
MythBusters
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MythBusters is a science entertainment television program created by Peter Rees and produced by Australias Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23,2003, the series was transmitted by numerous international broadcasters, including SBS Australia, and other Discovery channels worldwide. The show was one of the oldest—and the most popular—on Discovery Channel, being preceded only by How Its Made and Daily Planet, from 2006 to 2016, the show was overseen by British show-runner Dan Tapster, working out of Sydney, San Francisco and Manchester. Filmed in San Francisco and edited in Artarmon, New South Wales, Australia, during the second season, members of Savage and Hynemans behind-the-scenes team were organized into a second team of MythBusters. They generally tested myths separately from the duo and operated from another workshop. On October 21,2015, it was announced that MythBusters would air its 14th, the show aired its final episode on March 6,2016. On March 25, Discoverys sister network, Science, announced its intention of continuing the series with new hosts, the show, currently airing, is titled Mythbusters, The Search. Adam Savage has confirmed that he and his former cohosts have no intentions of reuniting for future team projects, MythBusters refers both to the name of the documentary and also the cast members who test the experiments. The series concept was created for the Discovery Channel as Tall Tales or True by Australian writer and producer Peter Rees of Beyond Productions in 2002, Discovery rejected the proposal initially because they had just commissioned a series on the same topic. Rees refined the pitch to focus on testing key elements of the rather than just retelling them. Discovery agreed to develop and co-produce a three-episode series pilot, Jamie Hyneman was one of a number of special effects artists who were asked to prepare a casting video for network consideration. Rees had interviewed him previously for a segment of the science series Beyond 2000 about the British/American robot combat television series Robot Wars. The highest rated regular episode featured two stories, straw through a tree, and talking to plants. The highest rated two hour special was Hollywood Myths, the highest rated Shark Week special was Jaws Myths which screened in 2005. During July 2006, an edited version of MythBusters began airing on BBC Two in the UK. The episodes shown on the European Discovery Channel sometimes include extra scenes not shown in the United States version, the 14th season, which premiered in January 2016, was the final season for the series. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman are the original MythBusters, and initially explored all the myths of the series using their experience with special effects. The two work at Hynemans effects workshop, M5 Industries, they use of his staff

35.
New Age
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The New Age is a term applied to a range of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices that developed in Western nations during the 1970s. Precise scholarly definitions of the New Age differ in their emphasis, although analytically often considered to be religious, those involved in it typically prefer the designation of spiritual and rarely use the term New Age themselves. Many scholars of the subject refer to it as the New Age movement, although others contest this term, such prominent occult influences include the work of Emanuel Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer, as well as the ideas of Spiritualism, New Thought, and Theosophy. Although the exact origins of the phenomenon remain contested, it is agreed that it developed in the 1970s and it expanded and grew largely in the 1980s and 1990s, in particular within the United States. By the start of the 21st century, the term New Age was increasingly rejected within this milieu, despite its highly eclectic nature, a number of beliefs commonly found within the New Age have been identified. Theologically, the New Age typically adopts a belief in a form of divinity which imbues all of the universe. There is thus a strong emphasis on the authority of the self. This is accompanied by a belief in a wide variety of semi-divine non-human entities, such as angels and masters, with whom humans can communicate. There is also a focus on healing, particularly using forms of alternative medicine. Those involved in the New Age have been primarily from middle, the New Age has generated criticism from established Christian organisations as well as modern Pagan and indigenous communities. From the 1990s onward, the New Age became the subject of research by scholars of religious studies. The New Age phenomenon has proved difficult to define, with much scholarly disagreement as to its scope, the scholars Steven J. Sutcliffe and Ingvild Sælid Gilhus have even suggested that it remains among the most disputed of categories in the study of religion. According to Hammer, this New Age was a fluid and fuzzy cultic milieu and he thus argued against the idea that the New Age could be considered a unified ideology or Weltanschauung, although he believed that it could be considered a more of less unified movement. Conversely, various scholars have suggested that the New Age is insufficiently homogenous to be regarded as a singular movement. There is no authority within the New Age phenomenon that can determine what counts as New Age. Many of those groups and individuals who could analytically be categorised as part of the New Age reject the term New Age in reference to themselves, some even express active hostility to the term. Rather than terming themselves New Agers, those involved in this milieu commonly describe themselves as spiritual seekers, other figures have argued that the sheer diversity of the New Age renders it too problematic for such use. In discussing the New Age, academics have varyingly referred to New Age spirituality and those involved in the New Age rarely consider it to be religion—negatively associating that term solely with organized religion—and instead describe their practices as spirituality

36.
Psychokinesis
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Psychokinesis, or telekinesis, is an alleged psychic ability allowing a person to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Psychokinesis experiments have historically been criticized for lack of proper controls, there is no convincing evidence that psychokinesis is a real phenomenon, and the topic is generally regarded as pseudoscience. The word psychokinesis was coined in 1914 by American author Henry Holt in his book On the Cosmic Relations. The term is a blend or portmanteau of the Greek language words ψυχή – meaning mind, soul, spirit, or breath – and κίνησις – meaning motion. Rhine coined the term extra-sensory perception to describe receiving information paranormally from an external source, following this, he used the term psychokinesis in 1934 to describe mentally influencing external objects or events without the use of physical energy. His initial example of psychokinesis was experiments that were conducted to determine whether a person could influence the outcome of falling dice. The word telekinesis, a portmanteau of the Greek τῆλε – meaning distance –, in September 2006, a survey about belief in various religious and paranormal topics conducted by phone and mail-in questionnaire polled 1,721 Americans on their belief in telekinesis. Of these participants, 28% of male participants and 31% of female participants selected agree or strongly agree with the statement, It is possible to influence the world through the mind alone. Some phenomena – such as apports, levitation, materialization, psychic healing, pyrokinesis, retrocausality, telekinesis, in 2016, Caroline Watt stated Overall, the majority of academic parapsychologists do not find the evidence compelling in favour of macro-PK. There have been claimants of psychokinetic ability throughout history, angelique Cottin known as the Electric Girl of France was an alleged generator of PK activity. Cottin and her family claimed that she produced electric emanations that allowed her to pieces of furniture. Spiritualist mediums have also claimed psychokinetic abilities, eusapia Palladino, an Italian medium, could allegedly cause objects to move during séances. However, she was caught levitating a table with her foot by the magician Joseph Rinn, other alleged PK mediums that were exposed as frauds, include Anna Rasmussen and Maria Silbert. A photograph of her taken in 1909, which shows a pair of floating in between her hands, is often found in books and other publications as an example of telekinesis. Scientists suspected Tomczyk performed her feats by the use of a thread or hair. This was confirmed when psychical researchers who tested Tomczyk occasionally observed the thread, annemarie Schaberl, a 19-year-old secretary, was said to have telekinetic powers by the parapsychologist Hans Bender in the Rosenheim Poltergeist case in the 1960s. Magicians and scientists who investigated the case suspected the phenomena were produced by trickery, the Russian psychic Nina Kulagina came to wide public attention following the publication of Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeders best seller, Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain. The alleged Soviet psychic of the late 1960s and early 1970s was filmed apparently performing telekinesis while seated in numerous short films

37.
Extrasensory perception
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Extrasensory perception, ESP or Esper, also called sixth sense, includes reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B, Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as intuition, telepathy, psychometry, clairaudience, and clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation as precognition or retrocognition. Parapsychology is the study of psychic phenomena, including ESP. Parapsychology has been criticized for continuing investigation despite being unable to provide convincing evidence for the existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research, in the 1930s, at Duke University in North Carolina, J. B. Rhine and his wife Louisa E. Rhine conducted investigation into extrasensory perception, while Louisa Rhine concentrated on collecting accounts of spontaneous cases, J. B. Rhine worked largely in the laboratory, carefully defining terms such as ESP and psi, a simple set of cards was developed, originally called Zener cards – now called ESP cards. They bear the symbols circle, square, wavy lines, cross, in a telepathy experiment, the sender looks at a series of cards while the receiver guesses the symbols. To try to observe clairvoyance, the pack of cards is hidden from everyone while the receiver guesses, to try to observe precognition, the order of the cards is determined after the guesses are made. Later he used dice to test for psychokinesis, the parapsychology experiments at Duke evoked criticism from academics and others who challenged the concepts and evidence of ESP. A number of psychological departments attempted to repeat Rhines experiments with failure, W. S. Cox from Princeton University with 132 subjects produced 25,064 trials in a playing card ESP experiment. Cox concluded There is no evidence of extrasensory perception either in the man or of the group investigated or in any particular individual of that group. The discrepancy between these results and those obtained by Rhine is due either to uncontrollable factors in experimental procedure or to the difference in the subjects, four other psychological departments failed to replicate Rhines results. This called for experimental procedures that were not limited to Rhines favored forced-choice methodology, such procedures have included dream telepathy experiments, and the ganzfeld experiments. The scientific consensus does not view extrasensory perception as a real phenomenon, There are many criticisms pertaining to experiments involving Extrasensory Perception, particularly surrounding methodological flaws. These flaws are not unique to an experimental design, and are effective in discrediting much of the positive research surrounding ESP. Many of the flaws seen in the Zener card experiment are present in the Ganzfeld experiment as well, first is the stacking effect, an error that occurs in ESP research. Trial-by-trial feedback given in using a “closed” ESP target sequence violates the condition of independence used for most standard statistical tests. Multiple responses for a single target cannot be evaluated using statistical tests that assume independence of responses and this increases likelihood of card counting and in turn, increases the chances for the subject to guess correctly without using ESP

Cross section of the olfactory bulb of a rat, stained in two different ways at the same time: one stain shows neuron cell bodies, the other shows receptors for the neurotransmitterGABA.

Neurons generate electrical signals that travel along their axons. When a pulse of electricity reaches a junction called a synapse, it causes a neurotransmitter chemical to be released, which binds to receptors on other cells and thereby alters their electrical activity.

An fMRI image with yellow areas showing increased activity compared with a control condition.

These fMRI images are from a study showing parts of the brain lighting up on seeing houses and other parts on seeing faces. The 'r' values are correlations, with higher positive or negative values indicating a better match.